The present invention relates to a rail-connecting jig for a linear guide, and more particularly to an improvement of an operation of connecting guide rails in a linear guide of long stroke type which is employed, for instance, in a conveying device in an automatic warehouse.
Conventionally, an operation of connecting a plurality of guide rails having a predetermined length to one another to form a long guide rail assembly is carried out as follows: As shown in FIG. 5, guide rails 1 are laid with their ends abutted against each other. A straight edge 2 equipped, for instance, with a dial gauge 3 is disposed in parallel with the guide rails 1 thus laid. Under this condition, while the dial gauge 3 is moved back and forth to alternately measure the positions of the guide rails 1 on both sides of a connecting portion 4, the guide rails 1 are fixed with bolts inserted into rail fixing bolt holes 5.
The above-described conventional guide-rail-connecting operation in which, while the positions of the guide rails laid with the ends abutted against each other are precisely measured with the dial gauge, the guide rails are connected to each other with high accuracy, can be achieved relatively smoothly, for instance, in connecting guide rails on a machine of precision type such as a machine tool.
However, the conventional rail-guide-connecting operation is not applicable to general industrial machines such as those in an automatic warehouse because the industrial machines have no precise reference surface; that is, because it is difficult to use a straight edge or the like. Hence, there has been a strong demand for provision of a rail-connecting jig for a linear guide with which the guide rails can be accurately and efficiently connected to one another without use of a straight edge and a dial gauge.